Paradise by Judith McNaught Read Free Book Online Page A

her father more about Lisa, and about how much their friendship mattered to her, but some sixth sense warned her not to do it. In the past, her father had been so overprotective of her that no child had ever met his standards for a suitable companion for her. He'd be much more likely to think Lisa deserved a scholarship than that she deserved to be Meredith's friend.
    "You remind me of your grandmother Bancroft," he said after a thoughtful pause. "She often took a personal interest in some deserving but less fortunate soul."
    Guilt stabbed at her, for her interest in having Lisa at Bensonhurst was every bit as selfish as it was noble, but his next words made her forget all that: "Call my secretary tomorrow. Give her whatever information you have about this girl, and ask her to remind me to call Bensonhurst ."
    For the next three weeks Meredith waited in an agony of suspense, afraid to tell Lisa what she was trying to accomplish because she didn't want her to be disappointed, yet unable to believe Bensonhurst would refuse her father's request. American girls were being sent to school in Switzerland and France now, not to Vermont , and not to Bensonhurst with its drafty stone dormitories and rigid curriculum and rules. Surely, the school wasn't filled to capacity as it once had been; therefore they wouldn't want to risk offending her father.
    The following week a letter from Bensonhurst arrived and Meredith hovered anxiously by her father's chair while he read it. "It says," he finally told her, "they're awarding Miss Pontini the school's one scholarship based on her outstanding scholastic achievements and the Bancroft family's recommendation as to her desirability as a student." Meredith let out an unladylike whoop of glee that earned her a chilly look from her father before he continued: "The scholarship will cover her tuition and room and board. She'll have to get herself to Vermont and provide her own spending money while she's in school."
    Meredith bit her lip; she hadn't considered the cost of a flight to Vermont or spending money, but having succeeded this far, she was almost certain she could think of something else. Perhaps she could convince her father that they should drive; then Lisa could ride to Vermont with them.
    The next day Meredith took all the brochures about Bensonhurst , along with the letter about the scholarship, to school. The day seemed to last a week, but finally she was sitting at the Pontinis ' kitchen table while Lisa's mother bustled about, laying out Italian cookies as light as air, and offering her homemade cannoli . "You're getting too skinny, like Lisa," Mrs. Pontini said, and Meredith obediently nibbled on a cookie while she opened her schoolbag and laid out the Bensonhurst brochures.
    A little awkward in her role of philanthropist, she talked excitedly about Bensonhurst and Vermont and the excitement of traveling, then she announced that Lisa had been granted a scholarship to go there. For a moment there was dead silence while Mrs. Pontini and Lisa both seemed unable to absorb the last part of that, then Lisa slowly stood up. "What am I," she burst out furiously, "your newest charity! Who the hell do you think you are!"
    She stormed out the back door and Meredith followed her. "Lisa, I was only trying to help!"
    "Help?" Lisa snapped, rounding on her. "What makes you think I'd want to go to school with a bunch of rich snobs like you who'd look at me like a charity case? I can just see it, a school full of spoiled bitches who complain about having to get by on the thousand dollars a month allowance their daddies send them—"
    "No one would know you're there on a scholarship unless you tell them—" Meredith began, then she paled with angry hurt. "I didn't know you think of me as a 'rich snob' or a 'spoiled ... spoiled bitch.'"
    "Listen to you—you can't even say the word bitch without choking on it. You're so damned prissy and superior!"
    "You're the snob, Lisa, not me," Meredith interrupted